


"May I?"

by Infinimay



Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: G/T, Gen, Giant/Tiny, M/M, Mer!AU, Mermaids, human!logan, mer!sides, mermaid, mermaid!virgil, merman!virgil
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-25
Updated: 2020-06-25
Packaged: 2021-03-04 05:20:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,390
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24908278
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Infinimay/pseuds/Infinimay
Summary: Logan receives a rather strange package at his doorstep. Coincidentally, he also makes a new, rather fishy, friend.
Relationships: Anxiety | Virgil Sanders/Logic | Logan Sanders
Comments: 5
Kudos: 123





	"May I?"

**Author's Note:**

> This was originally made as a prompt fill over on my tumblr, @infinimay! There, you can find all of my already posted work, which is pretty much just a bunch of other prompt fills!

Logan pushed his chair away from his desk, rubbing his temples. He was starting to get a migraine from staring at the bright screen, and energy buzzed beneath his skin, urging him to get _up_ and go outside. Unfortunately, leaving his apartment wasn't exactly an option, at the moment.

He stood up and made his way out of his bedroom, dejectedly pulling off his tie. The illusion of productivity that he'd mustered just a few hours ago (though time seemed slower, now) was starting to fade. He walked out to the kitchen, only to cringe as he caught sight of his ‘quarantine calendar.’ It had been 21 days, and he hadn’t really left his apartment for anything, aside from getting groceries.

The bespectacled man let out a quiet sigh, and considered just going to sleep again. His work was done for the week- he’d been restless enough to finish everything ahead of time- and he was bored. He’d exhausted his collection of books, the only other thing that would be potentially interesting was research _,_ but no topic had caught his fancy.

As Logan pondered his next activity, his phone buzzed.

_**Remus Price** :_

_‘Yo nerd, im bored.’_

Logan quirked a brow, but decided that texting Remus was better than nothing. He responded quickly.

 _ **Logan Williams**_ :

‘ _I find myself sharing a similar sentiment. My work is all finished, and I have nothing to do.’_

The fact that Remus didn’t take a few minutes to respond, was a testament to how bored he was.

_**Remus Price** :_

‘ _…kinda want to blow something up.’_

 _ **Logan Williams**_ :

‘ _That would be a waste of the fire department’s time. You are an artist, are you not? Create something.’_

_**Remus Price** :_

‘ _like what?? i have no muse, nerdy wolverine!’_

 _ **Logan Williams**_ :

‘ _Remus, you are living through a pandemic, a historic event in the making. Have you never seen the works inspired by the Black Plague? Poetry, stories, paintings… If you’re looking for inspiration, perhaps you could do something like the ‘Danse Macabre’ style, but in a more modern depiction?’_

It took Remus several minutes to respond, and Logan was fairly certain that he’d successfully distracted the artist. Unfortunately, his own boredom remained. Then, Remus texted him back.

 _ **Remus Price**_ :

_‘i owe you one, nerd, thx! maybe i can find a project for you too ;)’_

_**Logan Williams** :_

_‘Please refrain from sending me any explicit pictures, Remus, we have discussed this.’_

**_Remus Price:_ **

‘ _your no fun :(’_

And that was that, Logan assumed.

*

That evening, just as he had resigned himself to making dinner, there was a sharp knocking at his door.

Logan jumped in surprise, pausing what he was doing. He was suddenly _very_ aware of the fact that he didn’t look very professional. His hair was an unkempt mess, and his outfit was… interesting. He wore a crumpled button-down, blue and black checkered pajama pants, and his favorite grey slippers. He cringed, but walked over to the door and opened it.

On the other side, there was a small box, sitting innocently on the floor.

“What…?” Logan questioned softly as he stepped forward, looking out into the hallway. There was nobody, just a cardboard box. “ _Hello_?”

There was no response.

Logan looked down at the box curiously, but finally shrugged. He picked it up, holding it away from his body, and carried it inside.

He put it down on the counter and walked around the kitchen, grabbing a knife from a drawer to open the box. He slid the sharp blade along the sealed edge of the box, finally revealing its contents.

Inside of the box, there was a booklet and some styrofoam packaging. He didn’t bother with the packaging, and instead opted to grab the paper booklet.

On the front cover, there was a picture of what appeared to be a mermaid, and text that read, ‘ **CARING FOR YOUR MINI-MER**!’

“Remus…” Logan trailed off, an amused look on his face. For a prank, it was done quite well- the booklet even included information regarding salinity of a tank, specialized for the ‘breed’ that was supposedly inside of the box.

He snorted as he put down the booklet, and looked over to the cardboard box curiously. He wondered if Remus had _actually_ gotten him a fish of some kind…

He shrugged and lifted the top layer of styrofoam, revealing the top of a small, plastic cup. Remus had gotten him a betta fish! A smile tugged at the corner of his lips as he recalled his old fish.

He carefully gripped the top and sides of the cup before lifting it up and out of the box- and he almost dropped the cup.

_That wasn’t a betta fish._

Curled up in the plastic cup, there was a tiny merman, with pale white skin and a purple betta tail. Holy shit.

“Holy _shit_ -” Logan’s eyes went wide with shock as he raised the container up, examining it closely. He let out a shocked, disbelieving laugh, unable to believe the reality before him, and he turned it slowly as the creature turned frightened eyes to look up at him.

“My word… you’re a tiny _merman!_ My goodness, that’s…”

The creature looked nervous, and Logan could only marvel at the way its tiny features scrunched up in fear. It was rather pale, with long, dark hair, and a long, dark purple tail.

The longer Logan stared, the more he began to realize that it looked _sick_.

There was an unhealthy pallor to the creature’s skin, and by human standards, it was far too thin. Its long tail was dull, as if it had been sitting in the water for a while, and he could see the beginning signs of fin rot on the ends of the appendage.

“ _Oh_ … um, pardon me, I just need to gather some things- I should still have that fish tank from my old betta fish…” Logan said with a small frown, carefully putting the cup down. He watched as the little merman went limp, a wince on his face. “I will be right back, don’t worry…”

With that, Logan quickly left the room, running back into his bedroom. He opened his closet, chewing on his lip as he searched through the dark area. Nothing, nothing- “Ah!”

He grabbed the old fish tank and quickly made his way back to the kitchen. He put the tank down on the counter, next to the sink, and started washing it out to prepare to fill it.

“I don’t have very much gravel left for the bottom, but I can probably get more… Of course, that will depend on how long you’ll be here, as well. I should call Remus,” Logan said, glancing over to the cup. The tiny merman looked scared, and his heart gave a tug.

After about twenty minutes, the tank was set up- now, it just needed…

Logan stepped over to the counter and picked up the cup, careful not to jostle the small creature too badly. He unscrewed the top of the cup, saying quietly, “Alright, I’ll let you get acclimated to the tank while I read through the manual more thoroughly. The water inside should be about room temperature…”

He didn’t receive a reaction, but that didn’t disturb him. Of course, he didn't imagine that the strange creature could understand him- perhaps it was like an actual fish, or maybe an octopus, in terms of intelligence... He lowered the cup into the water, smiling as the miniature merman immediately darted out of the container and swam around the tank. It seemed eager to explore, which Logan chose to interpret as a positive thing.

He observed the behavior for a few moments before securing the top of the tank in place, and finally sat down to read the informational booklet.

The first half was fairly simple- care, dietary habits, habitat recommendations… Though, he couldn’t help but frown as he read through the information.

**‘Warning: these fish are not meant to be kept in any aquarium larger than 2.5 gallons.’**

Logan glanced over to the miniature merman, who was swimming contentedly around the twenty gallon tank, and frowned. “Two and a half gallons isn’t large enough for _most_ fish, let alone… Irrelevant, I suppose.”

As he continued reading, he only grew more irritated.

“Enrichment is _not a concern_?!” Logan spat, thoroughly disgusted. He scoffed, rolling his eyes as he kept reading. “…all dietary requirements can be fulfilled by a _store_ - _bought_ _fish_ _food_? This is… pitiful.”

Before he could toss the booklet away, though, his attention was grabbed by one line, near the bottom.

**‘Scale and Blood Harvesting: Using a sharpened fillet knife, make a small, horizontal incision through the skin at the end of the tail-’**

Logan stopped reading, feeling sick. He tossed the booklet aside and looked over to the tank in shock, his stomach twisting uneasily. Inside, the creature had stopped swimming, and was looking at him curiously.

He shook his head, his lips pursing together in a tight frown. “No, that is not- _no_. You are not going to be _skinned_ , I assure you. I… I don’t know exactly what I will do with you, but it’s not _that_.”

He received a blank look for his efforts.

“Okay…” Logan said slowly, grabbing a chair from the kitchen table. He dragged it over to rest in front of the counter and sat down, looking directly at the merman. “Firstly, do you understand what I am saying? Er, that’s a dumb question, there’s no way anyone would-”

He was interrupted by the merman hurriedly nodding, his small, dark eyes wide.

Logan went completely still, the breath catching in his chest. He was horrified, and he said softly, “You… you’re sentient.”

A nod.

“You can understand me…” Logan repeated numbly, his mouth slightly open. He couldn’t believe it. “Oh. Oh, _no_ , I’m so sorry-”

He stood up and carefully removed the top of the tank, setting it aside on the countertop beside the glass enclosure. The surface of the water rippled as the tiny merman swam up, looking up at him cautiously.

“Um… hello,” Logan tried awkwardly, giving him a small smile. He glanced over to the where the cup sat, abandoned, and bit his lip. "My name is Logan Williams. It’s nice to meet you... Can… can you speak?”

There was a pause before he heard a quiet, timid, “…ye- yeah… ’m Virgil…”

“Virgil... It’s a pleasure to make your acquaintance. Ah, I cannot imagine that it’s particularly comfortable, having to look up like that,” Logan said with a small frown, extending a hand to grab the plastic cup on the counter. He held it over the surface of the water, but hesitated upon seeing fear on Virgil’s small face. “Oh, um… may I…?”

Virgil looked up at him suspiciously, his fins flicking and giving away how nervous he was, but finally nodded.

Logan let out a relieved sigh and dipped the cup halfway into the water, the open end facing Virgil. Though there was some hesitation, the merman eventually swam into the cup, only pausing to pull the rest of his long tail inside. Once he was settled, he looked up and gave Logan a nod.

Logan carefully raised the cup out of the tank and set it down on the countertop, a worried frown on his face. He sat down in his chair again, now looking up at Virgil. It seemed fair. “So… I have some questions.”

Virgil nodded, with an expression that made Logan wonder if he, too, had questions.

“Okay… firstly, what exactly _are_ you? You’re a miniature version of… some other creature, I assume? A merman?” Logan asked, his eyes flickering to the booklet before they went back to Virgil.

The creature’s tiny face scrunched up in disgust (Logan wondered if he had accidentally offended his new acquaintance), and he vehemently shook his head. “No, no- I’m a siren. We just don’t really grow, if there’s no room to grow in. Like a goldfish, kinda. If we’re caught before we can grow much… _yeah_. Shouldn’t you know this…?”

“What? Why would I- before this evening, I had no idea that such a species even _existed_!” Logan exclaimed incredulously, shaking his head. “…pardon me, I shouldn’t be so short with you. To answer your question, _no_ , I did not know that. My apologies.”

“Oh… sorry, I thought you were a witch,” Virgil said, shrugging- as if that solved anything. “So, you’re not going to take my scales? Or my blood..?”

“ _No_ , as I said, I have no such plans,” Logan said, grimacing at the thought. “Ah, perhaps I can release you back to the ocean, though we really should refrain from breaking quarantine protocol…”

“Quarantine?” Virgil asked slowly, his brows furrowed in confusion. “What’s that…?”

“Oh, um,” Logan blinked, trying to think of a way to explain it. “There’s a disease spreading among humans at the moment, and to slow down the spread of it, everyone is supposed to stay inside.”

“…oh,” Virgil said quietly, nodding. He sank lower into the cup of water, submerging his mouth and nose once again. Before Logan could say anything, he came up again, clearly hesitant. “So, if you’re a regular human… why am I here? Like… how?”

The question took Logan by surprise, and he pondered it for a moment. He glanced over to the box and said absentmindedly, “There was no note or anything, and the box was just left on my doorstep… I would suspect my friend Remus, but as far as I know, this isn’t something that he knows about. He would have told me, he’s terrible at keeping secrets… Perhaps you were supposed to go somewhere else?”

“Magic doesn’t screw up,” Virgil said, snorting in amusement. Logan had the distinct impression that he was being laughed at. “If the box was supposed to go to someone else, then it would have. It didn’t, so…”

“Well, you’re here now,” Logan offered with a shrug, genuinely not knowing what to say. As far as he could see, there was no way to find wherever Virgil had come from- there wasn’t even a return address on the box! It was _terribly_ unprofessional. “I guess... we just need to figure out how to proceed from here.”

Despite the situation, Virgil clearly wasn’t worried, because he managed to quirk a small smile. “Yeah, guess so.”


End file.
